The Blessing of Children

Several years ago an opportunity came up for me to apply for a job in England. My wife and I, as we always do, prayed about what to do and felt good about my applying, so did. I got the job and within four months we had sold our house, shipped our household goods, and headed to a new overseas adventure.

When we arrived in England we had three children and our fourth was on the way. Growing up in Utah and Idaho, it was not uncommon to have families with four, five, or even eight or ten children. However, in England, having one child, maybe two is the norm. So, with our three children, and the blatantly obvious signs of another one coming, you might say we stood out from the crowd in the child department.

Yes They Are All Ours

Within a short time from our arrival, I lost track of the number of times we were asked, "are they all yours?" At first I found the question annoying and felt like responding "no, we just gather stray children as we go along. We think they're cute." My wife was nicer than I was and would just smile and say yes.

Then one day someone asked the question and something totally different happened. Instead of feeling annoyed, I felt grateful and responded instantly, "Yes they are and I'm the luckiest man on earth because God trusted me enough to send them to me." The instant I said it, I felt to the very core of my being that what I had just said was really true. I couldn't help but think of Psalm 127:3 which states:

Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.

I felt truly rewarded.

Children Are Our Future

Today I'm lucky enough to have five beautiful children. Like the words from Whitney Houston's song, "I believe the children are our future." I believe they are an heritage of the Lord and a marvelous reward. We do need to treat them well and raise them in love and in harmony with God's commandments. In doing so we are raising up our future leaders. We must, therefore, take great care to ensure that we teach them correct principles so that they can govern themselves and be fit to govern others by being faithful and true to the truth and freedoms that make this nation great. May God bless us do to so.

Author

Randy McNeely is a father of five, an aspiring author as well as a singer/songwriter. He has written several patriotic songs, children’s songs and multiple religious hymns, including Oh Jesus, Savior of Mankind, which won a Special Recognition award in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints 2008 Music Submission contest.